The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The introduction of the DVR to the consumer world has revolutionized the way viewers watch and record television programs. DVRs eliminate many of the complications of VCRs and the need for video tapes. DVRs record television programs on a hard drive that is capable of storing a large number of television programs. Because DVRs are usually box-like in shape, and are often found sitting on top of the television sets to which they are connected, DVRs typically are included in the broad category of devices now called “set-top boxes.” Much like VCRs, DVRs receive one or more television signals (which may represent television programs and/or movies) as input from cables or satellite dishes, (or, in some cases, unlike VCRs, from broadband network connections) and also output television signals to a television set or other display.
A DVR's user can instruct the DVR to schedule, for recording, specified content that may be broadcasted or otherwise transmitted to the DVR at some future time. Thus, the user can schedule the automatic recording of the content in advance of the time that the DVR will receive the content. For example, the user can instruct the DVR to record unspecified content that will be broadcasted on a specified channel beginning at a specified date and time and ending at another specified time. For another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record a specified showing (on a specified channel, and beginning at a specified date and time) of a specified movie, specified event, or specified episode of a multi-episode television series. For another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record the next to-be-broadcasted instance of a specified movie, specified event, or specified episode of a multi-episode television series without specifying the date, time, or channel on which that instance will be broadcasted. For another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record all (or all first-run) episodes of a multi-episode television series on a specified channel without specifying the dates or times at which those episodes will be broadcasted. For another example, the user can instruct the DVR to record all (or all first-run) instances of movies, events, or episodes of a multi-episode television series that are associated with a specified keyword, a specified actor, and/or a specified director without specifying the titles, channels, or broadcasting times of those instances.
Many of the households in which DVRs are used also are those in which children are present. Parents who own DVRs might not want their children to watch certain televised content due to the violent or mature nature of that content, among other possible reasons. However, these parents might also want their DVRs to record such content for the parents alone to watch in privacy, despite the parents' desire to prevent their children from viewing such content. Thus, in some cases, a DVR might have, stored thereon, content that the parents wanted the DVR to record, but which the parents do not want their children to view.
Several schemes have been devised for preventing children from viewing selected televised content. One such scheme involves the “V-chip” technology. The V-chip allows parents to block certain kinds of television programming that the parents don't want their children to watch. Most television programs are now assigned a rating according to a system established by the broadcasting industry. The rating is encoded with the program so that, using the remote control, parents can program the V-chip to prevent a television from displaying programs that are associated with certain ratings.
In 1996, The U.S. Congress asked the broadcasting industry to establish a voluntary ratings system for TV programs. The industry did so by creating the ratings system known as “TV Parental Guidelines.” This system was established by the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association, and the Motion Picture Association of America. Ratings established under this system appear in the corner of a television screen during the first 15 seconds of each program. The ratings are also included in many magazines and newspapers that provide TV listings. Ratings are given to all television programming except news, sports, and unedited movies on premium cable channels. Under this system, there are six possible ratings. TV-Y (All Children), found only in children's shows, means that the show is appropriate for all children. TV-7 (Directed to Older Children), found only in children's shows, means that the show is most appropriate for children age 7 and up. TV-G (General Audience) means that the show is suitable for all ages but is not necessarily a children's show. TV-PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) means that parental guidance is suggested and that the show may be unsuitable for younger children. This rating may also include a V for violence, an S for sexual situations, an L for language, and/or a D for suggestive dialogue. TV-14 (Parents Strongly Cautioned) means that the show may be unsuitable for children under 14. A V, S, L, or D may accompany a rating of TV-14. TV-MA (Mature Audience Only) means that the show is for mature audiences only and may be unsuitable for children under 17. A V, S, L, or D may accompany a rating of TV-MA.
Although V-chip technology allows parents to prevent certain kinds of televised content from being displayed to their children, many parents may find the V-chip technology to be over-inclusive. The V-chip technology that prevents children from watching certain televised content also may prevent parents from watching televised content that the parents want to view while not in the company of their children. Because the V-chip technology blocks all programming that does not satisfy parents' specified criteria, the V-chip technology could prevent DVRs from playing recorded content that parents might actually want to watch outside of their children's presence. Conceivably, parents could re-program a television's V-chip every time that the parents wanted to allow the television to present content that the children shouldn't view, but many parents might find repetitive re-programming to be a hassle. Additionally, such an approach carries the risk that the parents might forget to re-program the television's V-chip to prevent child-forbidden content from being presented, thereby accidentally exposing their children to content that the parents did not want their children to view. Furthermore, some televised content might not be associated with any rating; the manner in which the V-chip technology handles such content might vary from implementation to implementation.
Another scheme devised for preventing children from viewing selected televised content is the “parental controls” mechanism that is implemented within DVRs that are produced by TiVo Inc. The parental controls mechanism allows a parent to block out specified channels and certain kinds of televised content. In fact, the parental controls mechanism even allows a parent to place the DVR into a protected mode in which a parent-specified secret password must be supplied to the DVR before the DVR will permit the viewing of any channel. To set the DVR to the protected mode, a parent selects a “turn on parental controls” option within one of the DVR's menus. In response to the selection of this option, the DVR asks the parent to supply a four-digit password. From that point on, until the protected mode is exited, the DVR will prevent programs broadcasted on any parentally designated “blocked” channel from being displayed unless the password is supplied to the DVR. Parents can block channels of their choosing using a “channel lock” feature.
The parental controls mechanism also allows parents to block specified kinds of televised content based on the ratings that are associated with that content, regardless of the channels on which that content is broadcasted. When this feature is used, the DVR automatically determines the rating that is associated with televised content (using the ratings from the “TV Parental Guidelines” system discussed above, among potentially others), and then either blocks or allows that content based on whether that rating is permissible in view of parentally established settings. These settings may include “TV rating limits,” which enable the blocking of televised content based on the “maturity level” of that content. Using TV rating limits, a parent specifies a certain level of restrictiveness from among several available levels. Televised content which has a rating that is not permissible in view of the specified level of restrictiveness is blocked. The settings also may include “movie rating limits,” which allows a parent to specify which movie ratings (e.g., G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, and AO (adults only)) are permitted and which movie ratings are not permitted. Content which is associated with a movie rating that is not permissible in view of the parentally specified allowable set of movie ratings is blocked. The setting also may include “TV content” limitations, which allow a parent to specify categories (e.g., suggestive dialog, language, sexual content, violence, fantasy violence) of content that are forbidden. When this feature is used, televised content which is associated with any of the parentally selected categories is blocked, regardless of the general rating (e.g., TV-PG, TV-14, TV-MA) that is associated with that content.
As is discussed above, while in the protected mode provided by the “parental controls” mechanism, a TiVo DVR will not permit blocked content to be displayed unless the DVR's operator can supply the previously established password. Additionally, the protected mode provided by the “parental controls” mechanism may be exited indefinitely by selecting a certain menu option and supplying the password. In order to mitigate the problems that might arise when a parent forgets to place the DVR back into the protected mode after exiting the protected mode, the “parental controls” mechanism conveniently includes an “auto relock” feature which, when active, automatically places the DVR back into the protected mode whenever the DVR's controls have not been activated (e.g., via the remote control) for at least four hours.
Although the “parental controls” mechanism discussed above provides parents with a rich set of features for shielding their children from some undesirable content, the “parental controls” mechanism has some limitations. For example, although the “parental controls” mechanism has historically enabled the blockage of content based on channel or rating, the “parental controls” mechanism has not historically enabled the blockage of content based on various other factors that are unrelated to channel and rating. This concerns some parents, since the ratings associated with some content might be chosen by people with whose opinions and views the parents strongly disagree. Ratings are, to some extent, subjective. Some parents see existing ratings systems as being only coarsely defined, and as not being descriptive of some attributes of content about which a parent might wish to base his decision to block that content. For example, even though a television program might be broadcasted on a generally child-friendly television station (e.g., “PBS Kids Sprout”), and even though that television program might be associated with a child-friendly rating (e.g., TV-Y), that television program might promote some views to which some parents are adamantly opposed, and those views might not be discernable from any existing rating. A parent might want his child to be able to watch all of the television shows on “PBS Kids Sprout” except for “Postcards From Buster” and “Teletubbies.” Unfortunately, besides blocking the entire “PBS Kids Sprout” channel using the “parental controls” mechanism, a parent might have no way of preventing his child from viewing these programs, since the ratings for all or nearly all of the programs on that channel are the same.
The “parental controls” mechanism is also somewhat limited in that it establishes only two distinct modes of DVR operation where content-blocking capability is concerned: protected or completely unprotected. Although these two modes might be appropriate for households in which the only individuals other than the parents are children of approximately the same age and maturity level, in other households, content restrictions universally imposed in the protected mode might be too restrictive for some older children but not restrictive enough for some younger children. Also, the parental controls mechanism in DVRs allow children to still display the names and descriptions of all of the programs in an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) as well as programs that the parents have recorded even though the children are not able to view the programs. Some implementations allow the blocking of “adult” titles, but are not able to block standard programming such as “Sex and the City” that have material that is mature in nature.